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Letters to the Editor for Sept. 21, 2011

By Baker City Herald Readers September 21, 2011 05:45 pm

Health Dept. gets grant for classes
To the editor:
We all have an interest in our community’s well-being, including a commitment to its health, prosperity and success. A healthy community is generally a thriving community. Reproductive health plays an important part in achieving this collective goal, and public health can be a link to the communication and education needed for guidance on this issue.
To this end, through a grant from the Baker County AAUW and Federal
Title X funding, the Baker County Health Department will facilitate
five reproductive health classes with a focus on teens and parents. The
classes will be held at the Baker County Public Library from 6 p.m. to
7 p.m., beginning on Thursday, Sept. 29, and will continue once a month
through January. While these classes will focus on teens and parents,
the general public is welcome and we encourage anyone to participate.
Our goal is to provide educational information and a forum for open
dialog and discussion.
If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact the Health Department at: 541-523-8211.Alicia Hills, RN
Nursing Supervisor,
Baker County Health Department
Time to deal with energy dilemma
To the editor:
The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is increasing
worldwide. From flooding in Pakistan and Vermont, to drought in Somalia
and Texas, to tornados in Missouri and Alabama, the record of death and
destruction is growing.
With each disaster, the question arises: “Is this caused by global
warming?” Climate scientists respond by saying these phenomena are
entirely consistent with climate-change research, and that it is
extremely unlikely that they could occur in the absence of global
warming.
Vast swaths of the Earth’s surface are in danger of devastating climate
change. The danger increases through our continued release of
greenhouse gasses and from self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms, such
as the thawing of the permafrost regions and the loss of reflective
arctic ice.
The evidence is in. While there remain a hard core of climate-change
deniers, they have been left with nothing more than blind faith in
hollow, discredited beliefs. I urge my fellow readers to watch the
videos from around the world resulting from “24 Hours of Reality” just
released by the Climate Reality Project and available
at http://climaterealityproject.org/#step-1. The series concludes with
a most persuasive and fact-filled presentation by Al Gore, a premier
spokesperson for the dilemma in which we now find ourselves.
According to the Post Carbon Institute, the U.S. could generate 100
percent of its electricity from wind, solar, tidal and geothermal for
much less than it has spent on defense and wars in the last
decade. We’re squandering precious opportunities.
It’s up to us to move the country and the world past the falsehoods and
absurd red herrings being promoted by the fossil fuel industry, by
their bought-and-paid-for politicians, and by the reactionary Right.
This is hardly the time to welcome climate change as “beneficial to
mankind,” requiring only “some changes on our part” to adapt to it. Now
is the time for active reversal of greenhouse gas pollution. Now is the
time for us to restore our national security by making us energy
independent. Now is the time to work together to achieve the noble end
of preserving this planet for future generations.Marshall McComb
Baker City

Changing memorial won’t lessen pride
To the editor:
In reference to the Sept. 16 article regarding the eternal flame atop the veterans memorial at the Courthouse:
My opinion, I have no objection to replace the gas flame with an
electric system that shows realistic flame. Cost saving
and sustained reliability is important.
A change would not lessen the pride and gratitude we feel toward our
local heroes that gave the supreme sacrifice. Our remembrances of them
is ongoing, and the eternal flame is a symbol of those memories.
Bless each one whose name is inscribed at that memorial.Phyllis Badgley
Baker City